On Tuesday evening, Mr Willsman said he was "sorry" and "deeply regretted" his behaviour.

He added: "Having sat on the NEC for many years, I am of course aware of appalling instances of anti-Semitism within our party, and am wholly determined to rooting it out of our movement.

"I do not believe anti-Semitism is 'widespread' in the Labour Party, and that was what my comments were trying to refer to, but we do have a problem which needs stamping out.

"One anti-Semite is one too many.

"I recognise the offensive nature of my comments and that, in diminishing the experiences of those who face anti-Semitism in our party and society, I showed a lack of the sensitivity required for discussions around racism."

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Video:Willsman confronted over anti-Semitism rant

Mr Willsman added that he would be "referring" himself to "receive equalities training" so he could "better understand how to approach discussions of such issues in a respectful way".

A recording has also been obtained by Sky News where Mr Willsman tells Labour's ruling body that Mr Corbyn sought his advice over Shami Chakrabarti's report into allegations of anti-Semitism within Labour.

The recording, from 19 July 2016, was made at a time when Labour MPs had overwhelmingly backed a no-confidence motion in Mr Corbyn.

In the recording, Mr Willsman describes Mr Corbyn as his "mate of 40 years".

He states: "The phone went and it was Jeremy.

"He was texting me. He said: 'I'm sitting on the Somme waiting to make a speech, I've got a few minutes, could you please text me the recommendations in Shami's report we need to be a bit careful about?'.

"By that point I'd read it and I texted him back, recommendations 10 and six which I'll come to in a moment.

"And I thought 'this is a chap who's cracking up, he's sending me texts from the Somme about Shami's report'.